medications for anxiety and sleep including Mirtazapine

[Marmotta838]

Hi all,
Mirtazapine helped my mother's anxiety for over a year at 15 mg. She started getting cold sweats (thinking she was cold where in fact she was pretty warm) at night. Consequently her sleep was disturbed and her anxiety levels increased. Her Mirtazapine was then increased to 22.5 mg and things got worse (not sure if related to the drug). Now she's on 30 mg since two weeks and things are definitely worse so I'm starting to think many things she now has a are side-effects (back pain, first cold sore in 88 years, shivering like flu, disrupted sleep).

I am thinking she would be better to go back to a smaller dose of Mirtazapine (say 7.5 or 15 mg - one that induces sleep - at higher doses it can disrupt sleep) and go on something else for anxiety and sleep.

So, the question is - has anyone else had similar experiences with this drug and most importantly, has anyone had any success with other medications for anxiety/sleep?

Many thanks....

 

[Cat27]

I've no experience but just wanted to say welcome to TP

 

[malc]

my wife is on 1 mirtazapine backed up with 2 quetiapine to ease nightmares and hallucinations,which have helped .

 

[Marmotta838]

Thank you and dosages?

my wife is on 1 mirtazapine backed up with 2 quetiapine to ease nightmares and hallucinations,which have helped .

Hi Malc, Many thanks for that - any idea of her dosages? Do you think the Quietapine is a good drug and does it help her sleep? Thanks....

 

[Marmotta838]

Thanks Cat27

I've no experience but just wanted to say welcome to TP

Thanks Cat27!

 

[malc]

45mg of mirtazapne and 2x 25mg of quetiapine,they seem to be working,also give them 2 hours before bedtime,then 2 amitriptyline in with bedtime meds,too much mirtazapine is a ptsd treatment by the way.

 

[BeckyJan]

My husband was given small doses Quetiapine (marketed as Seroguel) for his anxiety and sleep disturbances. It is an antipsychotic and can have side effects but the small doses were monitored carefully. It helped him a lot along with regular paracetamol which the medical profeesionals have accepted as being helpful.

We found that although he did not sleep well he was much calmer. There was reluctance to give medication for sleep as it would have heightened the risk of falling, which he did often anyway.

 

[BillBRNC]

From US here, there are caregivers here that claim that medical pot, CBD oil, and Marinol help quite a bit with these problems. Medical pot and the oil are illegal in most places in the US, but Marinol is a prescription medication approved by FDA for cancer and HIV issues. Marinol is synthetic THC, but it is not supposed to make a person "high" so to speak. Just calm and less agitation, plus sleep better. I've never used it, but I might down the road when I progress further. I don't know if you have this stuff in the UK or whether it is legal. Just wanted to mention it.